Checking valve to piston clearance

[69427]

Any chance the gasket is flipped? I think the large water passage is at the front of the block (the part off the right in your photo. The size of the holes may not be a big deal - these are also to help "shake" sand out of the casting when it is made. Look at the holes in the head.

I thought about that. But looking at the block I noticed that the slight kickout by the half moon shaped water passage is not present at the rear portion of the block on that side (not symmetrical), so flipping the gasket didn't look like an option.

I'll take a look at the head surface tomorrow to see if the corresponding water passage is similarly "offset".

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Are you using a GenV gasket or not?

 

[69427]

Are you using a GenV gasket or not?

I'm using all Gen IV (Mk IV) parts (including FelPro 1027 head gaskets) on this block, as it's my understanding that this block is still just a slightly updated Gen IV design.
Despite a lot of looking around, I haven't seen any decent documentation regarding this block where it indicates what aspects may require later generation parts. However, looking at some pictures in one of my BB books, it's very obvious that this block retains the Gen IV water passage shapes, compared to the very large Gen V passages.
Additionally, this gasket set (FP 1027) is the only PN that Summit sells that is specified for aluminum heads.

I think I picked the correct parts, I'm just a bit perplexed.

 

[69427]

Can't I get an effin' break here?

Well, damn interesting afternoon today. I think the gaskets will work okay, so I decided to put the heads on. I was cleaning the first head with some alcohol to make sure the gasket surface was clean, and damn, it looks like there's a 3/4" long crack in the deck/gasket surface near the outer headbolt area. So, I put it aside, and I'll drop by the machine shop tomorrow with it for a second opinion.
So, I take the other head out of the box, and it looks like it was bounced around a bit at the factory, in that it had a couple "dents' at the outer edges of the machined (gasket) surface, which pushed the aluminum up a touch, and would intrude into the gasket material. So, I spent some time with some fine files and leveled the surfaces. Thankfully the problem areas were outside the headbolt circle.
So, I slide the head over the studs and lower it onto the gasket. WTF??? Looks like there's only about 3/4 of a nut height worth of threads sticking out from about four or five studs. Please don't tell me theese aren't the right studs. These are the only ones listed in the Summit catalog for these heads, but WTH, let's see what the ARP website says. Sure as shit, there's actually a custom part number for the head studs for this engine combination. Damn, cuz the studs from Summit weren't cheap. I call and ask the ARP rep on the phone what the price for the "correct" stud kit is. He tells me (and it's about 3x!!! the price of the ARP studs I bought from Summit), so I say thanks, but I'll see if Summit has a better deal on ARP parts than the factory will sell them for.

So, progress has come to a sceeching halt for the time being.


Heading out for a walk with the wife to help burn up some of the frustration from today.

 

[SmokinBBC]

Wow....that's a bit of a bad streak.....I'll bet since summit listed those bolts for your combo...and they are wrong....they will give you some credit towards the ARP.

If you got those heads new...I'd call and bitch up a major storm.

 

[69427]

Well, won't be making much progress on the engine for several days due to the long weekend and no parts. I called Summit Racing and explained that the studs I bought don't fit, and gave them the ARP part number for this engine combination. To Summit's great credit, the studs were less expensive (cheaper is not an applicable term when discussing the price of this stud kit) through them, and they readily agreed to accept a return of the present stud kit, as I stressed that the studs did not go through a torque application. So, it will probably be late next week before the new studs get here.
I took the suspect head over to the machine shop today to get a second opinion about the odd mark on the gasket surface. The owner looked at it from a few angles and said it was a scratch, as there's a faint "parallel" scratch nearby, indicating that something had slid across the machined surface sometime during its assembly or packaging.

So, in the meantime, I'm trying to decide whether to start disconnecting stuff on the engine in the car, or leave it alone and work on a couple other items in the garage.

 

[mrvette]

Yeh, bag it, some daze it don't pay to get outta bed,

go find a hammer and beat on the house a bit....

:gurney::drink:

 

[TimAT]

Take a bright flashlight and a mirror and look at the scratch- put the mirror at one end and shine the light into the scratch. The bottom of the scratch should look shiny in the mirror. If it's dark, you have a problem. We use this "trick" all the time looking at suspected cracks on airplane parts. Hasn't ever missed for me.

 

[69427]

Take a bright flashlight and a mirror and look at the scratch- put the mirror at one end and shine the light into the scratch. The bottom of the scratch should look shiny in the mirror. If it's dark, you have a problem. We use this "trick" all the time looking at suspected cracks on airplane parts. Hasn't ever missed for me.

I'll give that a try, Tim. I appreciate the information!